Essential Question: How did the Communists take over China?

Before WWII… The people of China were unhappy with imperial rule. Their unhappiness led to revolution and civil war. Power struggles existed between two groups—the Nationalists, led by Chiang Kai-shek, and the Communists, led by Mao Zedong.

Chiang Kai-shek Chiang Kai-shek was a Nationalist and unyielding Anti-Communist. He led the military unification of China in the 1920s and helped the Allied powers defeat the Japanese in WWII. When the Nationalists lost China to the Communists, Chiang maintained the republic by moving it to the island of Taiwan where he established economic development and political stability.

Communism in China Who fought a civil war in China? Who led each side? Who won the civil war? What happened to the losers?

Communists Take Over China During World War II the Chinese Communists and the Nationalists put aside differences to fight Japanese invaders. Civil War Resumes Public Support Once Japan was defeated, civil war resumed. Nationalist forces outnumbered Mao’s Communists, but Communists had wide support among China’s peasants. Rural Chinese peasants had long been oppressed by brutal landlords, high taxes, policies of corrupt government. Communists promised to take land from landlords and distribute it to peasants. By 1949, Communists had driven the Nationalists almost entirely from China Nationalist control was limited to small areas on the mainland, and several islands, including Taiwan.

Communists Take Over China Opposition to Mao People’s Republic of China China faced many difficulties, including a crippled economy and lack of a functional government. Some countries opposed to communism refused to recognize Mao and his new government. They claimed that Chiang Kai-shek’s government on Taiwan was the true Chinese government. On October 1, 1949, Mao Zedong stood before a huge crowd in Beijing. He announced the formation of the People’s Republic of China. Mao’s strategy of using guerrilla warfare in rural China worked.

Communism in China Why did the Communists win the civil war in China? In what year did China become communist? What challenges did the new government face?